RWBY: Emergence
by Amorphis760
Summary: Alan Hood finds himself in the strange new world of Remnant. Filled with ruthless Grimm and merciless villains can one truly live or can one merely survive. As the world stands teetering on the precipice of disaster can one man make a difference or is Remnant doomed to fall into the abyss. A story where soulless beasts may not be the worst enemies but humans themselves.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Disclaimer: **I do not own RWBY if I did it would be awesome though.**

People love to rationalize the world around them. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing at all. If we as a species didn't rationalize things we wouldn't have evolved from the primitives we once were. What was once the theater of Gods, the earthquakes, volcanoes erupting, tsunamis and storms was rationalized until we as mortals could understand them. Well, we rationalized them enough for the masses at least. If you want to get the nitty gritty of the science behind each, more power to you, the equations are murder to figure out. Why do you think engineering students drink so much? I know I did or at least I think I did.

It's all becoming fuzzy now like a half remembered dream. I can remember the technical aspects of my life but the personal, who I am, family, friends it's bleeding away. I suppose that it is a blessing in a way. I mean who really wants to be weighed down by who you were in a past life. Ah, I didn't really mention that did I?

Right then. So when I went on about humans rationalizing the world around them I am, was? A mechanical engineer in my past life. I loved science because you could quantify everything around you from the smallest quark to the universe itself, but I believe that some things cannot be rationalized. That they cannot be brought down and examined by the human mind. That some things require things our brains simply cannot handle like picturing a fourth dimensional object in a three dimensional universe.

So when I awoke from whatever void had held my soul before being reborn I immediately tried to rationalize where I was. Completely understandable really. You go to bed after drinking way to much rum to be healthy, but you'll be damned before you remember one more thing after that helicopter aerodynamics test you took today and everything is odd.

Now I don't mean hangover odd, I've never had one before so suck it weaklings, no odd as in your body feels different. Like you're trying to reconcile an automatic car from a manual. You know where everything is and how it works but now there is this stick thing and is that an extra pedal? My vision was wonky as well. I mean I have perfect vision so seeing everything so blurry is odd.

The main clue something was off was the huge shapes in front of me, blurry though they were. They were speaking some kind of language I've never heard before. Now the first thing I thought when I processed this is not that I've been kidnapped, but that I must be in the hospital for some reason. It was a fair assumption really. I may have underestimated the amount I'd had to drink or some internal process in my body had shut down and I was found before I died. Completely logic really.

That was why I was so confused when one of the blurry shadows picked me up and brought me to their chest. You'll have to forgive me if, in my surprise, I swore like a sailor or you would have if all that came out was gurgling noises. I didn't have much time to dwell as the blows to my psyche kept on coming. When the huge blob had picked me up I had flailed my arms and noticed how absolutely tiny my hand was. How utterly different this hand was to mine.

My face must have been hilarious because I could hear the unmistakable sound of laughter above me. It snapped me from my gawking and I redirected my gaze to the now confirmed woman who held me. She, in my humble opinion, was very beautiful. She had curly red hair that was about shoulder length in height which framed an angelic face with piercing light blue eyes.

It hit me then. There could only be one rational explanation for what is happening now. The one thing we can't rationalize. The how or why of being reborn. I didn't scream or cry at this revelation. Neither would have done me any good and truthfully I think I went a little bit into shock as I processed this new information.

I must have been spaced out a bit too long because my mother seems to be getting worried. So I crack a smile if not for me then for the worried new mother. Of course I was not all right, not by a long shot, but I'm still alive I guess and that's the important thing. Everything can be solved you just need the time to do so. It was no use freaking out about it. It also doesn't help the situation at all just accept what's happened and move on. Easier said than done really and the repeated shocks to my tiny body probably didn't help it. Yep, there it is I just feel so tired all of a sudden and I didn't fight the pull succumbing to sleep.

~3 years later~

There wasn't a whole lot I could say about the last three years of my new life. Well that's not true exactly. It was mainly extremely boring. I mean you can't really do much as a baby but sleep, flail your stubby limbs, gurgle and shit yourself. That last one was so embarrassing right up there with breast feeding, gah I feel weird just thinking about it.

Then there were the normal things babies learn to do crawl, walk, talk and read that sort of thing really. Of course I learned at a hugely accelerated rate but that's really not fair to compare me to other babies, but when is life every fair really so suck it I win hahaha. *Cough, Cough* Right back to reminiscing you can gloat later. Truthfully I felt no real need to hide how fast I learnt. It's a good cover really, people always think of a genius as eccentric not as a person reborn from a different world. Any quirks or odd saying would just be shrugged off as me being eccentric.

And how you might ask do I know it's a different world? Simple really, just look at the moon. I first saw it a couple of months after I was reborn. It was kind of hard to miss really as it hung overhead with the upper right quarter shattered and hovering around it. Kind of a huge sign that this is a different world unless something cataclysmic had happened before I was reborn but the cincher for me were the people with animal like accessories.

Yep my mom, Ariel is her name by the way and my dad's name is Robin, had taken me to a park when I saw a man with wolf ears sticking out of his head watching a little baby wolf girl play in the sand. I nearly squealed at the sight of her. She was so cute. If I could have weaponized her cuteness I could rule the world. I knew right there and then I wanted, no want is too light of a word, I needed to pet her ears.

With all my nearly 3 year old strength I escaped from my mother's grasp and dashed towards the red headed little girl playing in the sand. Oddly enough, though I didn't quite realize at the time why, she was separated from the rest of the children. All I could focus on was touching her ears. Impulsive, yes, no respect for personal boundaries, check, but I blame my bodies hormones and the fact I was 3 so I could get away with it.

I skidded to a stop right in front of her a little out of breath from the short sprint, damn my tiny body. "CanItouchyourears?" I blurted out.

"W-what?" She reeled back and I could see the beginning of tears forming in her eyes. I could have slapped myself. Of course she would be frightened. I nearly bowled her over in my charge over here and babbling like an idiot didn't help.

Speaking as slowly and calmly as I could I asked again, "Could I please touch your ears they're really pretty?"

Her hands had slowly reached up and touched her ears and whispered out so quietly I had to strain to hear it, "You think they're pretty?"

My head was bobbing up and down so fast I'm surprised I didn't strain something. "Okay." Yesssssssss, permission obtained. With a quivering hand I reached out to all that was good in this world and found it to be fluffy and soft. As I basked in all that was good while lightly stroking the base of her ears she let out an honest to god purr. I had to contain myself to not scoop her up and cry manly tears of joy for finding such a source of purity in this world.

As with all things both good and bad they must come to an end. I just hated how abruptly and horribly it did end. "Hey kid get away from the animal!" And just like that the tender moment between us shattered as the little angel flinched and shied away from the interloper.

Now I'm not an inherently angry guy. I'm slow to anger and quick to forgive but this scum had just called a little girl an animal, an animal. I nearly saw red just from that alone but alas I'm only 3 so I fought him with the one thing I had, my mind.

"Hm, I see but one animal here sir and it is not the little girl right before me." I shift myself so I can stand between the scum and the angel just in case. "Now run all like the animal you are before someone decides to neuter you." I give him a lazy once over. "Or maybe spaying would be the correct term? My most sincere apology miss."

Oh ho, that sent him in a tizzy. Damn, I didn't know a person could go that red and those bulging veins can't be good for him… good. With a wordless yell of rage he pulled back his right leg in preparation for what would no doubt be a brutal hit for a 3 year old.

Wow talk about having a hairline trigger there scum. I braced myself but the blow never came. My mom was suddenly standing in front of us fist still extended and glowing slightly. I couldn't see her expression but it must have been terrifying because his face had lost its redden hue and turned deathly pale as he wheezed from the sudden blow.

With a flick of her wrist a trident unfolded itself and with a whirl the sharp end was pointed at his throat. "Leave." Hm, short and simple I love it. The trash jerkily stood and scampered away like the animal he is. My mom, the now certified badass, just gave a snort of contempt and with a twist of her wrist the trident folded back into a small bar which went up her sleeve.

"Are you both alright? He didn't do anything bad did he?" The concern was evident in my mom's voice as she turned to face us.

"I'm fine but he called her an animal. Why would someone say that? She's far too cute to be called an animal. He should have called her an angel instead. So then I called him an animal and said he should be spayed. He got really angry about that and then you were all like WA bam. Than he ran away like a coward." I babbled while making exaggerated motions with my arms.

"You were so cool. How did you glow like that? Why do you have a trident? How did it fold up like that? Why did-"My mom's cool hand pressed down over my mouth. "Aren't you forgetting something Alan?" There was a light smile on her face and she certainly sounded bemused by my tirade.

I gasped and spun around. Mentally hitting myself for forgetting the aspect of cuteness that started all this. She seemed to be trying to mold herself against whom I assumed to be her father. Her little hands clenched against his vest and her ears flat against her head. He seemed more like a mountain to me. With muscles so defined they seemed chiseled from stone. Then there was his red eyes, white hair, wolf ears and handsomely defined face. All in all he was an imposing figure.

"So,' a deep rumbling voice came from the man, 'an angel hm. You're going to be a ladies man when you grow up aren't you?" I could feel a blush forming on my face and I scuffed the ground in embarrassment.

"I couldn't help it she's just too cute to not like."

"Oh, do you hear that princess you have an admirer now." He wiped away fake tears. "They grow up so fast don't they?"

"They do don't they." My mom reached down and ruffled my hair. "I love him little scoundrel that he is." Betrayal of the highest order. How could you mother?

He chuckled in that deep baritone voice he has. "Anyways thank you for stepping in when that racist came around. It seems like there are more and more of them nowadays."

"It was no problem taking care of trash like that. I hate racists. I had a Faunus on my team during and after Beacon but…" She trailed off her tone tinged with regret and sadness.

"My condolences the life of a Hunter is filled with danger." The heavy atmosphere was broken by the sound of a purr below them.

While the adults had been talking I had managed to coax the little angel out of her father's arms and resumed gently rubbing her soft wolf ears. Her face had a look of bliss on it and she subconsciously leaned into me. There it was again that precious purring noise coming from her. Ah, I could happily die again after this.

At least this time the moment was broken by laughter. "Oh dear, my little boy will be a ladies man won't he."

"Should I get my gun now or try to scare him off later?" He said as he bent down and picked up the little angel. We both pouted and they just laughed again. "Well we should get going. My name is Kraft Lawerson and this is Holo."

"Nice to meet both of you. I'm Ariel Hood and this is Alan. Here,' she took out her scroll, 'this is my contact info. Our kids seemed to like each other quite a bit and I've been remiss about having Alan interact with people that are his age. If it's okay with you would you mind setting up playdates for the two?"

"I would love that actually. Holo's mother died in childbirth and I've been working nonstop ever since. It would be great for Holo to be with kids her own age instead of nannies."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Kraft just waved it off. "It's okay time heals everything and she did leave me with this bundle of joy." He gave Holo a big exaggerated kiss on the forehead sending her into fits of giggles.

"So I'll set something up with you later but we really do have to go. Holo say goodbye to your new friend Alan."

"Bye Alan."

"Bye Holo."

As I watched the father daughter pair walk off I couldn't help but feel that I'd made a lifelong friend.

 **Author's Note: Hello anyone and everyone that took the time to read my first story that I have posted on this website. I would greatly appreciate feedback as it improves the quality of my writing and your enjoyment of the story. At least it should but it's always possible that it makes it worse. If so I could always start written in best Inglsih.**

 **My hope for this story is to touch upon young Alan Hood's childhood, teenage years at Signal, Beacon and what comes after. This will eventually become more and more AU as the story progresses. If you want to read fanfictions that try to 'stay true' to canon then more power to you, but this will not be one of those.**

 **For those of you that absolutely must know who the main character is going to get together with I'm sorry to inform you that I haven't decided yet. Feel free to try and convince me your ship is the best ship ever. On that note though I will say that there will not be an Alan/male character not because I dislike it but most of the characters are female in the show and the few male characters seem to like females so... I'm also not convinced that I could convincingly write a male/male relationship my heart just wouldn't be in it.**

 **Anyways thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.**


	2. Chapter 2: Aura What's That?

**Disclaimer: If I owned RWBY I would be insufferably smug but sadly I do not.**

You know how time seems relative. When you're having fun it all seems to fly on by but when you're sad or waiting for something it seems to slow to a trickle. That is how I felt these last three years.

After encountering Holo I was on cloud 9. Everything just seemed brighter somehow. My mood did dim later when I learned about what my mom and dad do for a living and why. Apparently there are endless scores of soulless beasts called Grimm that threaten our very survival as a species.

Oh, they didn't explicitly say it but I picked up on the hints that they were holding things back. Even though you might think your boy is a genius you just don't tell them literal monsters want to eat your face off.

Fortunately, humans and faunus had learned how to combat these abominations through the manipulation of one's soul that they called Aura. An Aura is the physical manifestation of one's soul and there seems to be something else you can do with it but I couldn't find much information about it. All I could find is that it is called a Semblance.

I had to do some light reading online to find out about all this of course. Mom had just called it her Aura and left it at that no matter how good my puppy dog eyes were she refused to explain more about it or how to unlock it. My dad was no help either. He just laughed and told me he would tell me when I was older if I was still interested.

I will admit that I pouted at that. I don't like being taken for a child even though I have no personal memories of my last life I still remembered all the technical aspects of it. Want me do calculus sure no problem, explain gravity mathematically in regards to celestial object you betcha. Explain the niceties of polite society, um no thanks.

Still most of the knowledge in my head is science based so let's work this through rationally. What I know is that Aura is a manifestation of your soul onto the material world. I pondered that for a while. So then my hypothesis should be that Aura is present in all living things, except Grimm, therefore it must be measurable but not all people have access to it. It can therefore be stated that some form of blockage stops everyone from accessing this energy source and/or using it in a conscious manner. Conclusion, find some way to unblock the thing that is stopping me from using my Aura and I will be able to consciously utilize it.

So possible ways to unlock my Aura. Assuming we did not utilize Aura before the Grimm attacked us it is likely unlocked in times of great danger or stress. Not something I really want to test because of the high likely hood of injury or death even if you do succeed. Possibility number two. People can unlock others Aura's but since no one will do that for a 3 year old that's off the list for now.

I was stumped for the moment. The only other way I could possibly unlock my Aura was manually by myself. Maybe meditation would help? I mean it's supposed to center oneself and if Aura is really soul power than it should work.

I settled down to meditate but forgot one thing. I don't know how to meditate. Cursing quietly so my mom doesn't hear and wash my mouth with soap I went back online. One thing I will say about the internet here as opposed to my old world it's a lot less sophisticated and all encompassing. As such there wasn't all that much on meditation that I didn't already know.

I mean I know you're supposed to sit down, breathe deeply and calm yourself but I was looking for something a bit more in depth than that. I let out an explosive sigh before grumbling and sitting down as comfortably as possible. Okay first off close your eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Rinse and repeat. Now to calm and center myself but how?

I pondered this as steady rhythmic breathing sounds filled the air. Calm. Calm. What makes me calm? Then suddenly I had it. It suddenly appeared. The soft feel of Holo's ears under my fingertips. The vibrations from her purring as she leaned into me. The simple act of making this little girl happy was the most calming experience I've ever had.

Time became ethereal. There was only the sound of breathing and the feeling of being blanketed by calm. Nothing could hurt me, nothing could touch me in this moment. They say meditating centers yourself but nothing could compare to feeling your very center of being. What makes you who you are right before you.

Time had lost its meaning to me but the outside world continued on. When I opened my eyes the sun was nearly setting but I was solely focusing on the pale blue glow that surrounded my hand. I was so enthralled by the pale glow that I completely missed the door to my room opening and my mom entering.

What I did hear was the loud gasp from the doorway. I turned just in time to see my mom's eyes roll back into her head and fall like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Shit. "Mom." I tried to scramble towards her but overlooked one key fact. My legs had fallen asleep from sitting there for so long and so with the first step I took my legs fell out from under me slamming me face first into the floor.

With nary a split second to process what was happening I braced for the impact. A loud thump sounded out as I slammed against the floor yet strangely enough I felt no pain. What I did feel was a little bit more tired than before. I quickly deduced that my Aura must have protected me but put the thought to the side as I crawled towards my mom.

Now I don't know how true this is for other people but when my legs are recovering from falling asleep, in that tingly stage, I always laugh. I can't stop it so it comes out a bit hysterical in the end. So imagine this scene. A glowing blue 3 year child is laughing hysterically while crawling towards an unconscious woman. Right can you picture it? Well that's what my dad walked into… Yeah.

Another one bites the dust. Was all I could think of as my dad joined my mom in la la land. Well that and that my parents were both wimps but that's neither here nor there. Urgh, I just want to bash my head against something. I finished crawling towards my mom and checked to make sure she wasn't bleeding anywhere. I did the same for my dad then I had nothing to do but wait for them to wake up.

Mom was the first to stir. Groaning and rubbing the back of her head she sat up. "Alan!"

"Mom?" She zeroed in on my voice and let out a gasp at my still glowing state. Grabbing me she pulled me close then spit questions out like a machine gun. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Do you feel tired at all? Why is your father unconscious?"

"I'm okay, no, no and I don't know."

"Okay, okay that's good. Now I need you to listen to me alright? Stay right here I need to make a call on my scroll alright? Look after your dad. Okay?"

"Okay." "Good I'll be right back."

She disappeared in a blur of speed leaving my dad and I in the doorway. I could hear her talking rapidly to someone on her scroll as I sat down next to my dad. I guess what I did was really abnormal then. *Groan* I might have really messed this one up. It's one thing to be a genius and another thing to be a prodigy. Oh, well it's not like I could reverse time, what is done is done.

In another blur of speed my mom was beside me. "Is the laze about still down?" A sharp kick to the side only produced a groan. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and her tone was sickly sweet as she said, "Honey dear, get up or I might slip up during our next training session." A brief pause. "It would be such a horrible thing to have a eunuch as a husband wouldn't it."

Unconsciously I crossed my legs. Mom you can't just threaten to castrate someo- oh, wait I literally just did that this afternoon. I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Oh look he's up.

The next few hours passed by as slow as molasses. My parents just wouldn't stop hovering. Asking me if I feel tired, hungry, hurt and a myriad of other questions. The doorbell ringing cut off the seemingly never ending flow of questions.

Robin left us in the living room and I could hear a murmured conversation with whoever came. The conversation ended and my dad walked back in with an unknown man in tow.

Standing in the archway was a tall lanky middle aged looking man with silver hair and an expensive looking black suit. In addition he was carrying a black cane in one hand and a large coffee mug in the other. Although it was muted I could feel the barely restrained power that seemed to roll off of him.

*Slurp* "Hello there I'm Ozpin the headmaster of Beacon and you must be Alan. I was your parent's teacher back in the day you know. Anyway I came here today after your mother frantically called me telling me about how you unlocked your Aura all on your own. I am one of the foremost experts on Aura and its manipulation so let's jump right into it."

"Alright,' he pulled out a scroll and taped it a few times. 'I want you to just hold this scroll and we'll see how much Aura you have left." As soon as I touched the scroll a bar appeared on it and shot down into the yellow range at 35%.

"Hm, and has Alan been projecting his Aura since you called me?" Both of my parents nodded. "Interesting. Although projection is the least intensive ability most newly awoken people would have exhausted their Aura by now. The fact that you still have a good chunk left at 3 years old is beyond impressive."

Ozpin started to pace back and forth in front of us. "Can you explain how you unlocked your Aura?" I dithered for a second or two. I couldn't try to act the fool my parents would pick up on it and Ozpin seemed very perceptive. In the end I sighed mentally and explained my process and reasoning. In for a penny in for a pound.

Everyone was silent as I finished my explanation. My parents looked shocked and Ozpin, well Ozpin was chuckling. "My, my we have a little genius on our hands. I look forward to seeing you at Beacon if you choose to pursue a career as a Hunter. We still have to make sure you stop hemorrhaging your Aura though. I want you to take my hand and I'm going to project my Aura and shut it off. Then I want you to try feeling what I'm doing and replicate it."

I gave a nod and took his calloused hand with my own. "I'm going to start now. It might help to close your eyes." My eyes closed and I felt his Aura burst forth from his skin. It stayed hovering just above his skin before it seemed like the source of it was tapering off like turning a handle on a faucet.

He repeated this process several times before he instructed me to try replicating it. It was easier than I thought it would be now that I had a guideline. My Aura stopped trickling forth from my source but I knew I could release it again at any time.

"Good just like that. Repeat that several times and we can wrap this up." I did so several times, each time it seemed a little bit easier each time. "Excellent, I have to thank the Hoods for such an intriguing evening. If you have any more Aura problems please don't hesitate to call me."

After being thanked profusely Ozpin took his leave. The door had barely closed before I was swooped up into a bone crushing hug by my mom. "I was so worried about you Alan." She was half sobbing by this point. "When I first saw you I thought something horrible had happened. I'm so glad nothing bad happened to you."

Wow, now I feel like a total jackass. I didn't really think about anyone else when I did this. Something horrible could have happened and no one would have known until they found me. Lesson learned then knowledge doesn't equate to wisdom. This is a new world and I can't assume I already know everything.

I missed the change that happened when I was mussing but the suddenly cooling air and the tightening of her already bone crushing hug clued me in. I glanced up and froze at the unholy fury in her eyes.

"Alan Hood you are in so much trouble young man." Her words seemed to gain an unnatural timber and reverberated around the room. The already cool room became frigid.

"Mom you're frightening me."

"Good."

*Whimper* I need an adult.


	3. Chapter 3: First Day of School

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY but I wish I did.**

You know how I thought my mom looked awesome when she stepped between us and the racist. Well getting a different perspective on things really changes how you view things. Right now she looked terrifying with her red hair whirling around like it had a mind of its own, her blue eyes narrowed into slits, and her hands clenching and unclenching like she wanted to strangle me. I think you can forgive me for be terrified in that moment.

What followed was a lecture, more of a rant really, about me being too smart for my own good, under no circumstance was I to unlock anyone else's Aura without a certified adult's supervision and that I was grounded for the rest of forever. It did end with a semi good note though. At the end of it all she had picked me up into a near bone crushing hug and congratulated me on unlocking my Aura, but told me that I needed to be more careful in the future.

What I found out later is that now a days almost everyone unlocks their Aura by someone else unlocking it for them. It's just safer for everyone involved because the person that is unlocking the Aura can guide the process and the person who is awakening their Aura has a lot less chance to experience extreme exhaustion or in some rare cases death. Yeah that surprised me too. Aura can be used to strengthen almost every aspect of the body but sometimes you can strengthen the body too much and your muscles literally tear themselves apart when you move. It's usually a rookie mistake but it can happen and that was why my parents freaked out so badly, beside the fact I unlocked it at such an early age, they thought I might have crippled myself.

I've said this already but I felt like an ass for worrying my parents so much and even more so after I learned more about the inherent dangers of Aura that they don't tell you about unless you learn it in Hunter schools. Part of my punishment, if it can be called that, was an hour or two each day of supervised Aura manipulation. I think the thought process went along the line of, well he's already got super powers lets at least make sure he doesn't hurt himself or others because he can't control them.

I quite enjoyed the lessons. The feel of my Aura surrounding me in a warm comforting glow always left me feeling giddy afterwards. I think I would liken it to being wrapped in a blanket and being carried by a parent as a child. You just felt warm and secure like you knew that nothing would hurt you. Of course that isn't true in practice and my parent made sure to hammer this home sometimes literally. Aura isn't like a piece of equipment that can just be worn with no consequence. When it's in the red you feel it. Your hands shake, your breath is ragged and you want nothing more than to drop to the ground and sleep there for the next week.

That's another problem that can come from Aura, exhaustion. Oh, you probably won't die from it, unless you collapse somewhere bad, but you can overdraw your Aura and that can lead to some problems on its own. It would be like pulling a muscle but the muscle would be your entire body all at once. I'm told it's excruciating.

Enough of the doom and gloom though. Although it took three weeks for me to be deemed 'safe' enough to see other people, not because I learned slow my mom's a perfectionist, I finally got to see Holo again! There was much joy and ear petting on my part and purrs on hers. The Lawersons became something of a second family to us and I'm sure it was the same for them. I of course had no problem with this and not just because Holo was so cute. It was a guilty pleasure of mine to be able to just play kid games again and not really have to worry about the world at large.

Oh of course there were soulless monsters out to eat my face but I could just forget about that when I was playing with Holo. I think Kraft appreciated it as well. He was one of the rarer faunus that escaped the shabby areas of town where the poor, mostly faunus, lived. This was mainly due to the pension families of deceased Hunters receive. Even though she died during childbirth and not on a mission the Vale Council still pays him a monthly stipend that covers living costs. I think it's like an investment in a possible Hunter as well as a thank you for defending us from the Grimm. In addition, he had a night time job so he could look after Holo during the day.

So like it does time continued its march forward. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and months turned into years. In what felt like a blink of an eye another 2 years had passed by and Holo and I were 5 years old and awaiting the day that we could start school. Well Holo was cautiously optimistic about the whole thing while I was dreading it. I know how I said I had fun playing kid games with Holo but I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for school.

I just knew it was going to be horrible. At least until, maybe, Hunters prep school I probably wouldn't learn much that would be new to me. Sure the history class would be all new, I was sure to enjoy that, but the math was the same and the speaking and writing portion were similar enough to not be a real challenge. Then there would be the children. Now let me set one thing straight everyone thinks their little baby is the sweetest little angel to ever grace this planet or at least they love them enough to overlook some 'childish' faults that they may have. They all assume wrong.

Until proven otherwise I label all children as little shits with no filter and few social morals. Don't get me wrong I can think they're cute as hell, see Holo, but I'll say no thanks to interacting with them. So I regarded my upcoming tenure in this zoo they referred to as school with a sense of resignation and dread.

All too soon the fateful day arrived. My posture was slumped and I dragged my feet the entire 10 minute walk to school. I occasionally shot tearful puppy dogs eyes at my mom for forcing this horror upon me. All my actions gained was a small smile from her. 'It's not like I want your sympathy baka.' I nearly slapped myself at that stray thought. Never go full tsundere.

On my right an entirely different scene was playing out. Holo was nearly skipping down the street in her yellow sundress and sandals chatting excitedly with a sleep deprived Kraft. It would have been cuter if I hadn't been trying to work myself into a funk.

We finally arrived at a non-descript brick building with what looked like an attached playground with surrounded by a tall metal fence. 'This is it. My future prison is in front of me.' My thoughts were broken by Holo grabbing my right hand and nearly dragging me forward. 'Quite a bit of strength in that tiny body.' I mused as she pulled me towards a group of kids.

For all her seemingly wild enthusiasm Holo herself was quite shy about meeting new people. I suppose it comes from living with near constant discrimination from others. Never really understood that really. You would think people would be more focused on surviving and uniting against a common enemy than fighting one another but no it was not to be.

As it was her headlong charge petered out about half way towards the group and we were left standing there holding hands awkwardly. I nearly sighed but held it in. I stopped my wallowing in my melancholy and glanced around. 'Which of these little hellions could I stand to be around?' Automatically I left out humans because I couldn't predict how they would react and I didn't want to ruin Holo's first day with racism or bullying.

This severely limited the options available to us. Like I said before the Lawersons lived in a nicer part of town and the ratio of humans to faunus reflected that fact even at school. Out of the 20 or so kids milling around I saw 3 other faunus kids. A cat, a dog and a monkey faunus to be precise. Of those 3 kids the monkey and the dog faunus had already joined together and were playing a game. Meanwhile the cat faunus was just hovering near the edge of the group of kids.

I guess I have to take the lead on this one then. "Come on follow me." I pull Holo towards the blonde haired cat faunus.

"Hello there. My name is Alan and this,' I step slightly to the side, 'is Holo. I saw you standing here looking like you could use some friends. What's your name?"

"Gretel." Oh, what an upbeat reply. She sounds cheerful. "My brother left me to go play with that other kid over there." She points towards where the dog and monkey faunus are roughhousing. "I didn't know what to do then you guys came along and now we're friends, right?"

Ah, the simplicity of youth. Someone says hello and now you're their best friend. Although how does a cat faunus have a dog faunus for a brother? Adoption maybe?

"Of course we are, right Holo?"

"Y-Yeah. Of course we are." It seems like Holo is coming out of her shell a little more as we continue talking with Gretel. I think Holo was a little scared of meeting new people and making new friends, but the ease at which this happened boosted her confidence a little. Holo's chat with Gretel consisted mainly of girl talk, excitement for school to start( the poor fools), why we were holding hands( we're super best friends) and one topic that I did care about. How is the dog faunus her brother?

"I have two moms. One is a cat the other is a dog. They call my daddy a horn dog, but I don't know what that means and everyone just laughs when I ask." It was a mighty struggle, but I kept from laughing. How great is that? The guy is probably a dog faunus as well.

"That's so cool. I don't have a mom but Alan's mom is great. She makes the best cookies ever."

This time I did smile. My mom does make the best cookies ever. Unfortunately we did not have time to finish this riveting conversation before the teachers started herding us into the building. We were led into a large auditorium where the principal gave a speech about the upcoming youth striving to surpass their parents and how this was the first step towards that. I thought it was a nice speech if a little heavy handed. I mean we're only 5 right now.

Today was only a half day and the rest of it was going from class to class and getting to know everyone else and the teachers. Nothing really surprised me on the curriculum except how much time was devoted to physical fitness and the Grimm introductory class. It almost seemed like they were filtering out potential Hunters at a young age but that could have been just me not fully understanding the culture here.

We were fed lunch and then our parents came to pick us up. All in all it wasn't a bad start to school life here in Vale. I was thankful for that. I really didn't want Holo's first day at school to be a bad one. We said goodbye to Gretel and her brother, who I learned is named Hansel, then started the short walk home with Kraft and my mom.

"So did you have a good day there mister sour pants? Did you make any new friends?" My mom lightly inquired as we were walking back home.

I pouted. I couldn't help being moody about it preschool is beneath me. "I guess and yeah we did her name is Gretel."

"The blonde haired cat faunus?" I nod. "Yeah Kraft and I saw how you bolted towards the only unoccupied female there. My little prince charming." I couldn't help the blush that spread after she lightly pinched my cheek.

"It's not like that I just didn't want Holo to have a bad first day and the fact that the cat faunus was a girl had nothing to do with it." I tried to explain my reasoning but all I received was a pat on the head and that patronizing tone adults used on kids.

"Sure sweetie whatever you say. So what do you know about her?" I opened my mouth to speak but Holo cut in.

"She has two moms and she says that her dad is a horn dog, but she doesn't know what it means. Can you tell me what it means?" I swear I saw the implacably calm mountain that is Kraft nearly trip when he heard that.

"How come she has two moms anyway? Why don't Alan and I have two moms?" Wow it's weird to see Kraft looking so flustered right now. I really want to laugh and from the corner of my eye I can see my mom wants to as well.

At this point we had stopped walking so Kraft could kneel down to talk to Holo. "You see honey when someone loves someone else they want to spend the rest of their lives together and sometimes a group of people love each other so much they want to live together." A vast oversimplification of the complex inner working of a relationship but whatever she's 5.

"Oh, what's love?"

"Love is when you really, really like someone." Holo's face scrunched up and her ears twitched rapidly.

"So I really, really like Alan because he gives really good ear scratches and he's my best friend. I also really, really like my new friend Gretel and if Alan gives her a good ear scratching she'll really, really like him. So then we'll all love each other and live together forever right?"

Her speech was delivered with all the confidence and innocence only a 5 year old can muster. By the end of it Kraft seemed to be beseeching the sky for a divine intervention and my mom had started laughing.

I take back what I said about school being alright. It had brought about this scene and I just knew that we would be teased for years about this. I knew this because if something like this happened to my kid I would never let them forget it. Kraft had started muttering something and my mom was still laughing.

Holo had turned to me with a look of complete confusion on her face. 'Oh if only you knew what you have wrought today Holo. Might as well enjoy it though.' I reached out and lightly scratched her ear. Her look of confusion was replaced by a look of bliss. Kraft now had his head in his hands and was muttering even louder. I heard a loud thump from behind me as my mom fell to the ground laughing.

'Even though this was embarrassing I wouldn't trade these peaceful days for anything right now.'


	4. Chapter 4: Being Different can be a Pain

**Disclaimer: I don't have the animation skills to own RWBY.**

 **Author's note: I feel like I forced character development in this chapter but if the characters never change it's not a very interesting story. *Shrugs* It might also be the case that I'm dead tired but I couldn't get to sleep so I finished this chapter off. If you see any dreadful grammatic errors blame insomnia.**

School was of course dreadfully boring for the most part. I did manage to test out on math though. It was during one math class where everyone else was learning basic addition and subtraction I was literally so bored I fell asleep at my desk. I was rudely awoken though by a ruler slamming down right next to my head. Now Ms. Brown was one of those teachers everyone loves to hate.

She had a stick so far up her ass it was a wonder she could even bend over. In addition she didn't teach us so much as demanded obedience from us. Basically she would lord over us with her 'superior' intellect and we were supposed to respect her for it. Anyways here how it went down.

A loud bang startled me awake and I heard a shrill voice above me. "Mr. Hood do you find my class boring?" Quite annoyed with her and still a little groggy from my impromptu nap I responded with the first thing that came to mind.

"Dreadfully boring ma'am." I could almost see her puff up in righteous self-importance. Do bear in mind that this is a class of 5 year olds.

"Tut, tut Mr. Hood. How will you get by in life if you couldn't bother to learn mathematics?"

"I already know this."

"Oh you do really? Well then you should have no problem with the problems on the chalkboard." I was getting a little annoyed at this point. Sure it was my bad that I fell asleep but trying to shame me in front of the class was unnecessary.

"Fine." I muttered as I walked up to the chalkboard and quickly wrote the correct answer for each of the 5 problems, they were simple addition problems. Turning back around I saw Ms. Brown's lips had pursed and her eyes had narrowed.

"Hm, maybe you do know something but regardless of that there will be no sleeping in my class Mr. Hood." She reached into her desk and withdrew a slip of paper. Quickly jotted something down she handed it to me. "Take this to the principal's office. He will decide your punishment."

'Wow first week of school and I'm already a delinquent.' I flashed a grin and a small wave to Holo and Gretel on my way out. Almost as soon as I exited the room I realized I had no idea where the principal's office even was. Sighing, I gave a halfhearted search around the school until a hall monitor found me and brought me to the principal's office.

So here I was sitting across from this slightly balding old man as he examined the note Ms. Brown gave me. Setting the note down and leaning towards me he finally spoke. "Do you know why you are here today Mr. Hood?"

"I do. I fell asleep during Ms. Brown's class. I won't deny that, but I can tell you why that happened." I paused for a moment. "I remember your speech about surpassing the current generation and how it all started here at school. When I heard that I was super excited to begin and make my parents proud of me." A total lie. I felt like school was a waste of time for the level I'm at. That being said I do want to make my parents proud of me.

"So I was disappointed when I had my first few class and found myself unchallenged by the course work. It got so bad that I literally fell asleep in class. If I had a chance I could prove that, at least in math, I am far ahead of my class."

I could feel his eyes bore into mine searching for something as I stared right back at him. Whatever he saw he slowly nodded. "You shall get your chance then. I can have my secretary get all the end of the year math tests up to junior high and you can take them. Regardless of how you do on them I will still have to punish you in some way. If you do well I will mitigate the punishment and conversely I will be harsher on you if you fail. Do you understand?"

Wow. I didn't actually expect him to do that but sure it works out in my favor I guess. "I do."

"Wait here then. I'll be right back."

10 minutes later he returned with a stack of paper. He handed them over along with a pencil. "You will have 30 minutes for each test and there are 6 test in total. Begin whenever."

I silently flipped over the first page and began to work. As soon as I was done I set it off to the side whereupon the principal picked it up and began looking it over. This continued until I was done with the last test and I just sat there while he looked it over. When he was done he started tapping his fingers against his desk absentmindedly.

"You know I've seen a lot of students sitting in front of me over the years that have tried to weasel out of a punishment with a lie or an excuse and honestly I didn't expect you to pass these tests. You've actually exceeded my expectations which is excellent by the way. I do love to see children push ahead in life. Tell me do you know what you want to be when you grow up?"

Taken aback by his abrupt change in subjects I took a moment to consider. "I would like to be a Hunter sir."

"Hm, a Hunter you say." He seemed to be deep in thought. "It is a noble profession. You fight to hold back the tide of Grimm that ever seeks our destruction but have you considered doing more?"

"More sir?"

His next words were very solemn. "We need more than just Hunters to fight Grimm. We need people smart enough to invent new ways to combat them, to take the fight to them. We need the kind of people who built Atlas's robots. We need scientists desperately. You don't need to decide now of course, but I want you to think on it as you grow up. As it is I am going to recommend that you receive a tutor in mathematics or you attend a higher level math course than what we offer here."

I frowned in thought at not being a Hunter. I had actually become so infatuated with my Aura I had never considered not using it in some way. I had wanted to continually push myself as far as I could and see what new heights I could find. Being a Hunter would be a big part of it because I was convinced that the higher forms of Aura manipulation were restricted to Hunters only.

This would have to be thought out more, but later not now. It would be impolite to just drift off in front of the principal. "I'll consider it sir." I said noncommittally.

"That's all that I ask. Now on to other matters. I need to call your mother to inform her of what you've done and what should happen now that I've seen you have a gift for mathematics."

My eyes widened and I sunk down in the chair. 'Oh, no mom is scary when she's angry. I don't want any more special lessons in Aura.' The last special lesson was about how to take a hit with Aura and I had nearly collapsed afterwards. 'Maybe the good news will outweigh the bad.'

I was sent out to wait in the lobby for my mom to arrive. 20 minutes later mom arrived in the lobby and spotting me sitting there made her way over. When I first saw my mom I was cautiously optimistic. She didn't seem to be angry with me which was a positive in my book.

Walking up to me she ruffled my hair around. "Hey sweetie I heard you got in a little trouble for sleeping in class because you weren't challenged enough. I always said you were too smart for your own good. Let's go see the principal, alright?"

I didn't really have much input in the conversation between my mom and the principal. They were mostly just discussing options for me and potentially more testing in different areas to see if I could skip any other courses. The only time I did speak up was when they spoke about transferring me to a different school all together.

I had denied that option and said that I didn't want to leave my friends behind. The principal had commended my loyalty and my mom sported an annoying smirk. It was probably from recalling what happened a few days ago with Holo. Regardless that option was taken off the table.

In the end I would take some additional tests to see where the end of my talents in math were and we would go from there. When it was finally over there wasn't much time left before school would let out and we decided to stick around and wait for Holo to be released. She was talking with Gretel when she left the building, but when she saw us she bolted our way after throwing a quick goodbye over her shoulder as she ran.

"Are you okay? Are you in trouble? Was the principal mean?" A stream of questions flowed out of her all of them concerning my wellbeing while her ears twitched wildly. It was adorable really, but my mom answered before I did.

"Holo, can you wait until dinner? I want to talk about it with everyone, okay?" I don't know what set it off but my mom's words didn't seem to reassure Holo at all. In fact she looked like she was on the verge of crying.

Quickly I reached out and took her hand. "Holo, it's fine. There is nothing wrong mom just wants to talk about it later."

"Really?" Her eyes were still watery but they seemed to be clearing up.

"Yep I promise." That was apparently enough for her and the rest of the walk home was spent listening to Holo talk about all the classes I missed and how the other kids talked about me. Since I never came back the rumors had ranged from me being expelled to going off to fight Grimm and rescuing princesses. Not really sure how the latter one came about but I blame it on kids over active imaginations.

Now you may be wondering why we were having dinner with the Lawersons and it was simple really. Mom could cook a decent meal but her real talent rests in deserts while my dad can somehow burn water. We had found out shortly after meeting Kraft that he used to be a head chef at a fancy restaurant but had quit to spend more time with Holo after she was born. We had also found out that he still absolutely loves to cook and so a tradition was born.

We would supply the necessary ingredients and Kraft would cook dinner. It was a good deal for all of us. We got to enjoy professionally cooked meals and the Lawersons got a free meal while Kraft got to enjoy seeing people enjoy his passion again. Anyways my mom had told everyone what had happened at school today and what could potentially happen in the near future.

My dad and Kraft had praised me but Holo was strangely quiet and withdrawn after the announcement. She just played with her food for the rest of the meal and all my gently inquiries as to what was troubling her were rebuffed soundly. I could still see that something was really bothering her by her drooped ears. Everyone else picked up on it as well so when she asked to stay the night it was fine with the parents.

Coincidentally, since Kraft has a night job Holo has stayed over at our house many a time in the past two years. I think that Kraft usually left her at a friend's house each night so she wouldn't be alone before we arrived into their lives. It wasn't a perfect arrangement by any means but then again nothing ever is. He actually admitted to thinking of getting back into his old job now that Holo was old enough to go to school and he couldn't interact with her as much during the day.

Eventually the meal ended and saying his goodbyes Kraft left for his night job leaving Holo behind with us. Holo's mood didn't really improve after the meal and she continued to sulk about something. Nothing I did really improved her mood and eventually I gave it up for the moment. If they're not ready to talk about it that's fine. Sometimes you just have to let someone come to you with their problems instead of picking at it like a scab.

Time passed by and eventually the sun set and everyone went to bed without Holo confiding in anyone about what was bugging her. I drifted off to sleep just a little bit annoyed that she wouldn't let me help solve whatever her problem was. Oh well maybe tomorrow.

Something woke me suddenly. I didn't quite know what was going on but something had changed in my room and woke me up. I glanced around the room to see what had disturbed me but the room was immersed in shadows. A creak came from the doorway and I focused my attention there.

"Alan are you awake?" I heard the whispered voice of Holo coming from the hallway.

Relaxing considerably I whispered back, "Yeah I am. Do you need something?"

Her voice sounded hesitant and unsure now. "C-Can we talk? I can come back later if you don't want to."

I was frowning internally now. 'Was this about her bad mood earlier or did something happen that I didn't know about?' "Of course we can come on in." I leaned over and pulled the chain for the lamp bathing the dark room with glowing light. Meanwhile Holo had slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. Taking a moment I studied her appearance.

She was obviously unsure about something with the amount of fidgeting going on but something had also obviously upset because her ears were flat against her head and her eyes looked puffy as well. Along with her pink onesie and bedhead hair she looked thoroughly disheveled.

Scooting over I lifted the blankets covering me and patted the mattress beside me. She had probably been waiting for me to make some kind of move first because as soon as I finished the motion I saw her blur across the room and felt her slam into my side. By now I was fully awake and thoroughly confused about what was going on. I know she's sad about something but I have no idea what she is sad about.

Suddenly I could feel a damp spot growing around my shoulder right where Holo's head was. 'Is she crying?' My brain kind of froze as I tried to figure out what to do. After a few seconds I slowly wrapped my arms around her, hugging her to my chest. I could feel her stiffen at the movement then relax as I gently rubbed her back.

It took a while but she calmed down enough that we could actually talk. "You said you wanted to talk about something?" I tried to keep my tone as soft as possible while I kept slowly rubbing her back. I heard her say something but it was muffled by my blue onesie. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I had a bad dream."

"Oh, what was it about?"

"It was silly."

"Holo can you look at me for a second." Her head was shaken vigorously back and forth. "Please. Can you do it for me?" A couple seconds passed by and I thought she wasn't going to do it but then she slowly lifted her head. Her red irises were surrounded by her red and puffy eyes from all the crying she had just done.

"If something upset you this much then it is never silly and if you don't tell me what's bothering you I can't help you fix it. Do you understand?" She slowly nodded then buried her head back into my shoulder. "Now do you want to tell me about your bad dream?"

Slowly but then picking up steam she told me about it. "Everything was black and I didn't know where I was. I tried to call out for help but nobody answered me and then I saw you. You were just out of arms reach and I tried to get your attention but you didn't hear me. Then I tried to catch you but you were always just out of my reach no matter how fast I ran. Then you started getting farther and farther away and I tried everything to catch you until you disappeared and left me in the darkness."

"Holo that sounds awful I'm sorry you had to have a dream like that." Another thought hit me. "Is that why you were sad this evening? Did you feel like I was leaving you behind?" The tightening of her arms around my chest was an answer enough.

"Oh Holo, I would never just leave you behind." The pressure on my ribs was almost bone crushing now and I subtly deployed my Aura. Like I said she's a lot stronger than she looks. "If you ever feel like I'm leaving you behind you can do one of two things. You can give up,' she looked up sharply at that, 'or you can strive to improve yourself. To stand beside me and hopefully surpass me. Just know that I will never leave you behind, but I would much prefer someone who can stand beside me as an equal rather than a follower."

"You should also know that I will always provide you with help all you have to do is ask. I can't help you if I don't know you have a problem, alright?"

"I understand." I could see a glimmer of determination deep within her red eyes. Good she'll need that later in life.

"Do you want to talk about anything else?" A shake of the head and then a huge yawn was her response. "Let's get some sleep, okay?" We settled in and as I reached over to turn off the lamp I heard Holo whisper out.

"Love you Alan."

"Love you too Holo." The light turned off plunging the room back into darkness, yet it didn't seem so dark anymore.

Unbeknownst to Alan and Holo Ariel had gone to the kitchen for a glass of water and seeing a glow coming from Alan's room had stopped to make sure the kids weren't up and getting into trouble. Just as she was about to enter she had heard Holo softly crying and squashing the instinct to burst into the room she had listened. At the end when the glow turned off she was left standing in the hallway softly smiling. 'You may be too smart for your own good my little prince charming, but this time it worked out just fine.' Quietly turning around she headed back to her room, water forgotten after her snoop session.


	5. Ch 5: Frustrating Lack of Knowledge

**Disclaimer: You know I don't own RWBY.**

It may be odd but one thing you can always count on in life is change. Nothing in this world can ever be completely static but that does not mean that change is necessarily bad. It is just something that you have to accept as a fact of life and continue onwards.

My late night talk with Holo had changed her. Whereas before she seemed content to follow my lead she now strove to break out of my shadow and make her own path. It may have led to less time with Holo, but I was content seeing her trying to better herself.

Another change was Kraft going back to his chosen profession, cooking. This was a change I did not like at all because it led to a decrease in the number of times Kraft cooked for us. Going from a professional chefs meals to average meals was kind of rough. Although now that I've said that I feel like a spoiled brat. 'Jenkins, where is my golden silverware?'

Anyways another change that happened was that I now had a tutor for mathematics. I had passed all the way up to college level math and then stopped, not because I didn't want to hem up my intellect too much and more out of fear.

You see I had no idea if the equations that made such a difference in my old world had ever been discovered here or if new or different ones had been discovered here. Everything below college level was just foundation that would be built upon in college and I wanted to explore new horizons. I also didn't want to inadvertently create new fields of science from nothing all because I accidently blurted out an equation that didn't exist here.

That brought me to another subject. One that my principal had brought up, being a scientist. After that conversation I had looked long and hard at how advanced this world was and if I had to pick one word to describe it I would say it was hyper specialized. Almost every field of science out there at the moment revolved around the use of a substance known as Dust.

Dust was used in absolutely everything from power, to fuel and even weapons. Looking up Dust further I found it could produce marvelous effects such as lighting, ice and fire through the usage of Aura. That kind of stumped me to be honest. That you could use your Aura on an inert lump of something and create elemental effect was astounding. If I had to liken Dust to something it would the horrible love child of fossil fuels and magic.

I say magic because even though the use of Dust is so prevalent in everyday life almost no research has been done on its origin or even chemical structure besides the fact that different colored Dust produce different effects. I smashed my head against the wall a few times, with Aura blocking the blows and therefore the pain it wasn't as satisfying. It's like they just found something glowing in the ground and decided to use it for everything. They're like children with a toy.

But Alan what about scrolls, robots and mecha shifting weapons they surely don't use Dust. Wrong on all accounts all three use Dust either as power or a primer for attack techniques. Really, constant struggle has done wonders and horrors for their technological advancement. Wonders in the form of advanced machines and honest to God AIs, yet horror because nobody asks why it works only how. The how usually involves them saying "well we used Dust and it worked."

It's a cycle of asking how can I make this better, stronger, faster and once those results are achieved they don't know why it succeeded only that it did. Let me give you the moment where I realized how utterly backwards this place is. They have airplanes but they don't know what gravity is. I'm absolutely serious. These idiot savants found out how to fly, using Dust as a power source, without the knowledge of gravity. Just What. The. Fuck?

Actually while we're on the subject of gravity how are we not all dead? All you have to do is look up into the night sky and you'll see the shattered moon with pieces of it scattered about. That means it was once whole and recently, on a cosmological scale, it lost a huge amount of mass which should have either had it pulled into the planet or it should have escaped our local gravity well. My brain hurt just thinking about it.

I was conflicted about what to do. I could definitely help link the how and why to science here, but for all their advanced equipment they were like savages with a bomb. They may know how to use it but they could just as easily kill themselves with it. Then there was the problem of me picking and choosing what to help them with like I had some type of God complex and only I could solve their problems.

My fingers drummed a steady beat on the table. A stray thought hit me. Dust is a finite resource and most of it comes from Atlas mines to the North. What happens when those mines run dry? It wasn't a pretty picture. With their almost total reliance on Dust it could easily be an extinction level event for them. So maybe something that could wean them off of Dust, but what? Then it clicked, solar energy. Yes even if I never gave them anything else a limitless energy source that has almost no potential for harm would do quite well.

Even if it did seem like I was playing God with them. If I could recreate solar panels I could cut back on the reliance of Dust for electricity and since they already have super-efficient energy storage systems from their reliance on Dust the problems we had on Earth wouldn't apply here. It's perfect. I think that that was the day that I made up my mind. Being a scientist I would be to annoyed at holding things back and their lack of a proper foundation. Therefore I would be a Hunter first and foremost and a science enthusiast on the side.

I had my goal now. Recreate a functional solar panel and train to be a Hunter. Later though I would need a team as almost all Hunters operate in teams. 'Maybe I could see if Holo want to be a Hunter?' I mused.

~ 3 years later~

'Why? Oh, God why did I think that was a good idea.' Frantically I rolled to the side, a huge metal ball impacting where my chest used to be. The lump of metal ploughed through the ground creating a small crater and causing a small plume of dust to rise up.

"Alan, stop dodging and let me hit you." Such an innocent sounding voice shouldn't be possible for such a destructive creature. I sprang to my feet and immediately bent over backwards to avoid a metal pole to the face.

"Ah, I missed." The statement was accompanied by a pout.

'Don't be so sad that you didn't hurt me you little hellion.' Recovering slightly I stepped inside her next swing and firmly planting my foot behind hers gave her a shove. I watched with some glee as she fell to the ground with a small "Eep."

"Alan that wasn't fair." Making sure Gretel wasn't getting up soon I turned to fully face Holo. She stood a few feet away from me with her hair done up in a bun and sweat and dust covering her. To anyone else it would have looked slightly ridiculous to see and 8 year old with a huge Morningstar, minus the spikes, and a tower shield almost as big as her. I however knew differently.

Behind that slim, childish figure lurked a monstrous amount of strength. We had actually taken her to see a doctor after she had accidently smashed through the dinner table one night. Apparently Holo had been subconsciously channeling her Aura inwards her entire life resulting in a huge increase in strength. Unlocking her Aura fully hadn't done much but give her a sporadic control over manifesting it outside her body. The doctors were stumped and Holo continued to grow stronger.

So yeah, I knew I wanted to be nowhere near that metal lump Aura or no Aura. "All is fair in love and war, Holo." I gave her my best cheeky grin then smiled for real at the look on her face. I stiffened when it morphed into a sly look as she looked past me towards my left. 'Gretel.' Whirling around I faltered when I saw Gretel still on the ground smiling up at me.

"Son of a-" Something hit me square in the back with all the force of a speeding car sending me flying through the air. I wheezed as all air in my lungs was forcibly expelled and groaned as my brief fore into human flight was abruptly ended by a tree. Even though I raged at being outfoxed by an 8 year old I couldn't help but marvel at the power of Aura. I would have been reduced to a smear on the wall if that had happened during my first life and now all I felt was a bit winded from the sudden hit.

My slide down the tree had ended and I collapsed onto my back to just lay there. The last two hours of endurance training and sparring had been exhausting. My relaxation was interrupted by my mom's concerned face appearing above me.

"Are you alright there sweetie? Holo didn't hit you too hard did she?"

I sighed before I clambered to my feet brushing off the front of my clothes as I did so. 'Ugh, tree sap. Now my hands will be all sticky.' "No I'm good. Just taking a moment to appreciate the clouds."

She gave me a knowing glance. "Knocked the wind out right out of you didn't she?"

"Pft, yeah right I was just playing it up so she would feel better."

"Oh, I see you flew 20 feet through the air just to play up Holo's beautifully done hit on you. The one where she played you for a fool right before it. That one." She deadpanned out. I could feel the arrows striking my heart at each statement. 'Why do you betray me mother?'

"Since she is obviously not strong enough to harm you I guess you won't mind being hugged by her." I twitched at the comment. I had developed a… heathy caution towards Holo's hugs after she nearly crushed me when she was asleep.

"Hahaha obviously. I love Holo's hugs."

There was a squeal from behind me and a thin pair of arms encircled me pinning my arms to my chest. "I'm glad to hear that I love giving hugs." I had unconsciously flared my Aura when I felt her grab me but after feeling no pressure I let it drop. I will admit Holo does give nice hugs when she controls her strength.

"Hey Alan do you want to know something?"

"Ay, sure Holo what is it?" 'Is it just me or is her hug getting tighter?'

"Your mom never told us to stop." Her arms clamp together like steel bands. "Get him Gretel."

"This is pay back for pushing me down." Her hands draw ever closer, fingers wiggling wildly, and plunge right into my sides.

"Nooooo, hahaha, noooo, stooooop, hahaha not the sides, hahaha." I wiggle and writhe against my captor but she's too strong. The tickle torture continues unabated. In the midst of my shattered pride I hear Holo whisper something in my ear.

"All's fair. Right, Alan?"

'I-I think I've created a monster. I'm so proud.'

"Mom, hahaha, help me!"

"What's that sweetie? I couldn't hear you over the sound of being tricked again and Holo beating you."

'E tu, brute?'

Later after they had finished their torture we had packed up for the day and headed home for showers and dinner. Finishing my dinner I went to my room still grumbling about female conspiracies against males and sadistic moms. My room was almost spotless except for what Holo called my tinkerer bench which held a large amount of wires, metal scraps and various other bits and pieces. Sitting at the front and center was my master piece.

A working prototype of a solar panel. It had taken three years of on and off toil and much cursing about their hyper specialization before it finished. I mean I even found out they have holograms but it's just ionized Dust particles creating an image. Stupid all-encompassing Dust.

Now you might wonder how I knew how to build a solar panel and all I can say is that I got involved in a green action movement on campus and we built a solar panel from scratch. The next question you might ask is why it took 3 years to build then. The answer is lack of materials and lack of knowledge base, not on my part of course but on theirs. They don't even have a periodic table and sometimes I wonder if they're Orks and their technology works just because they believe it can.

'What dat?'

'Dat flyin' machin'.'

'It fly an we use it ta fly.'

'Good let's use it an' hav' a nice and propa' WAAAAGH!'

Shaking off the amusing mental image I make a last few adjustments before heading to bed. Tomorrow I'll show my parents and hopefully they'll know someone who could potentially sponsor my invention and maybe bring it before the Vale council if I'm lucky.


End file.
